G33K Out: Composer Aaron Guzzo and the Tesla Musical

Episode 36: Composer Aaron Guzzo and the Tesla Musical

Nikola Tesla is considered by many geeks to be an unsung hero of the 20th century. In fact, the webcomic The Oatmeal once did a comic on “Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived”. The inventor of alternating current and many other ideas that we now use regularly, the man is hardly known outside of the geek realms outside of in a vague way. (I mean, he WAS played by David Bowie in The Prestige, but….)

Composer Aaron Guzzo was fascinated by the man after reading The Oatmeal’s comic, and decided to write a musical based on his life. I sat down with Guzzo and discussed the musical, his process as a composer, and how he got from Indiana to Los Angeles and how that helped bring the musical to life.

Basic show notes:

• Running time is 1 hour and 5 minutes.
• The interview was recorded on September 22, 2018.
• General notes about the discussion/further reading:
  • Another interview Guzzo did about the musical back in 2016.
  • American Theatre Magazine’s article, “Geek Theatre Moves the Outsiders into the Spotlight” from February 2014.
  • The trailer for The Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison.
  • I mention near the end International TableTop Day.
  • Find out more about the Tesla musical at the official website and on their Facebook page. You can also see a featurette about the musical on YouTube.
• The mid-show plug is from Tom Smith, who I interviewed in episode 32.
• In this episode, “Angie Geeks Out” about the haunted attraction Queen Mary: Dark Harbor.
  • The Time article naming the Queen Mary as one of the top ten haunted places.
  • The history of the Queen Mary.
  • Information about the Dark Harbor attraction can be found here.
  • My article about press night for this year’s, including my minor review that this is based on, can be read here.
• Theme music is “Schoolyard Haze”, by JariPitkanen, available via the Free Music Archive.
• This podcast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License.
• Interested in hearing other episodes of G33K Out? Check them out here.

And now, it’s time to geek out.